29th March 2006, 7:26 PM
From spong:
EA Lose $800 Million Through Godfather Saga
FT puts value on costly delay of Mafia blockbuster.
20th Mar 2006
Whilst development costs of EA’s forthcoming Mafia blockbuster The Godfather stretch to somewhere in the region of $10m to $20m, a report in the Financial Times suggests that the financial hit EA has taken from the game is in the region of $800m.
This is based on an estimation that a 5% drop in EA’s shares last July was largely down to delays with The Godfather game. To compound this, EA confirmed last month that The Godfather would finally be released this month at the premium price of $49.95. Fewer than three weeks later, it changed its mind and announced a $39.95 price tag.
“It’s been very difficult to pull off and we’ve had one slip – from November to March – but we’ve managed to move it from being ordinary to extraordinary with the extra tuning that it needed,” executive producer David De Martini told the Financial Times.
The Godfather has been treated as a proper blockbuster franchise by EA, featuring original star Marlon Brando who completed voiceovers for his Don Corleone character before his untimely death in summer 2004 from unsustainable obesity.
Some internet wags have likened the open-ended game to a Grant Theft Auto clone – which, while perhaps slightly unfair, has clearly been an inspiration.
Adam and Joe also ran an hysterical review of the game on their XFM weekend radio show right here. Do listen to this if you have a spare two minutes, because it is actually wee-yourself-funny.
There's a full SPOnG review to follow later this week. The Godfather is released in North America tomorrow (21) and in Europe on March 24.
Review cast: http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/pics3/godfather.wma
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not only did they fuck up one of my favorite films of all time by turning it in to a GTA-cookie cutter but then they botched up their marketing and internal affairs so that they spend 10 to 20 million on making the thing and then screw up its launch. beautiful, I hope to God people wake up and stop buying EA krap. The review is also awesome. :D
EA Lose $800 Million Through Godfather Saga
FT puts value on costly delay of Mafia blockbuster.
20th Mar 2006
Whilst development costs of EA’s forthcoming Mafia blockbuster The Godfather stretch to somewhere in the region of $10m to $20m, a report in the Financial Times suggests that the financial hit EA has taken from the game is in the region of $800m.
This is based on an estimation that a 5% drop in EA’s shares last July was largely down to delays with The Godfather game. To compound this, EA confirmed last month that The Godfather would finally be released this month at the premium price of $49.95. Fewer than three weeks later, it changed its mind and announced a $39.95 price tag.
“It’s been very difficult to pull off and we’ve had one slip – from November to March – but we’ve managed to move it from being ordinary to extraordinary with the extra tuning that it needed,” executive producer David De Martini told the Financial Times.
The Godfather has been treated as a proper blockbuster franchise by EA, featuring original star Marlon Brando who completed voiceovers for his Don Corleone character before his untimely death in summer 2004 from unsustainable obesity.
Some internet wags have likened the open-ended game to a Grant Theft Auto clone – which, while perhaps slightly unfair, has clearly been an inspiration.
Adam and Joe also ran an hysterical review of the game on their XFM weekend radio show right here. Do listen to this if you have a spare two minutes, because it is actually wee-yourself-funny.
There's a full SPOnG review to follow later this week. The Godfather is released in North America tomorrow (21) and in Europe on March 24.
Review cast: http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/pics3/godfather.wma
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not only did they fuck up one of my favorite films of all time by turning it in to a GTA-cookie cutter but then they botched up their marketing and internal affairs so that they spend 10 to 20 million on making the thing and then screw up its launch. beautiful, I hope to God people wake up and stop buying EA krap. The review is also awesome. :D